The American Immigration Council is a non-profit, non-partisan organization. My life-long dream of living outside of the United States was recently fulfilled when I embarked on my journey to Madrid, Spain. My decision to reside in Spain for the past four months was influenced by the many years I had spent diligently studying the Spanish language. What first started as a school graduation requirement quickly became a deep passion and interest in immersing myself in the various countries, cultures, and people that are connected to Spanish.
I began the application process about a year before the semester began. My college advising program was incredibly helpful throughout the journey, facilitating easy communication with the international university, handing in paperwork and retrieving my student visa on my behalf, and transferring all my credits and courses abroad to my U.S. transcript. It quickly seemed that all I had left to do was pack my bags and head to the airport.
Living abroad for these four months was an incredibly liberating and rewarding experience. I grew close to Spanish culture by living with a welcoming host family, who invited me into their home with welcome arms and taught me about day-to-day life in Spain. Before traveling to Spain, I had never practiced my Spanish language abilities so intensely before, allowing me to improve my skills and learn new vocabulary in an exciting new way. I also visited beautiful locations throughout Spain, stepping onto the vast beaches of Barcelona and smelling las naranjas amargas (oranges) on almost every tree in Seville.
After a bittersweet goodbye, I returned to the U.S. in May. Yet while I still was ecstatic over the life-changing experience I had just concluded abroad, the Trump administration was increasing its efforts to target international students wanting to study in the U.S. International students are now increasingly prevented from having the same educational and personal opportunities that I, a U.S. citizen, had just been able to access.
It is now becoming extremely risky, and almost impossible for some, to access education in the U.S. as an international student. The Trump administration’s recent battle with Harvard University has resulted in efforts to revoke student visas (referred to as J, F, and M visas) and prevent new ones from being issued to international students seeking to study at Harvard University. A 20-year-old Venezuelan student in late May was detained by immigration authorities in New York City when attending a mandatory immigration hearing and is now being held in federal detention. Back in March, a Turkish graduate student was arrested by ICE in Massachusetts and transferred to a detention center in Louisiana after her student visa was revoked without notice.
These cases, spurred by the Trump administration’s firm stance against the opportunity for international students to study in the U.S., is a shocking juxtaposition to the way that I had just been able to easily complete my paperwork and processes to study abroad in Europe. Despite any of the challenges or cultural differences that I experienced, none of them ever made my safety, livelihood, or ability to study feel threatened in the way that thousands of international students in the U.S. feel today.
It is shocking to recognize that while my abilities to study and travel internationally are practically limitless as a U.S. citizen, international students that share my passion to learn and explore are unable to do so if they wish to study in the U.S. The U.S. promotes studying, working, and living abroad to its fullest potential, yet the current administration simultaneously shuts the door on potential (and even current) international students. Education is a fundamental human right that everybody deserves to access, both within and beyond their country of origin. Allowing only select individuals the opportunity to study abroad based on their citizenship status excludes many hardworking students from sharing and reaping the benefits of that same privilege, and in turn limits the U.S. from benefiting from international exchange.
My semester in Spain allowed me to grow not only as a student, but as an individual. In addition to studying in a classroom, an international student learns to become self-sufficient, explore new ways of life, and critically think. It is vulnerable to put oneself in an environment far from home and unlike anything they have ever known, but we now find ourselves in a state where millions of students may not be able to seize that same opportunity. As the Trump administration continues its efforts to deny international students the ability to study in the U.S., it is necessary to recognize that these actions both harm the futures of hopeful international students and continue to isolate the U.S. from the rest of the world.
